As clear a penalty as you’ll ever see. That isn’t Serioux’s own arm around himself in the second picture. The fact this sort of stuff “goes on all the time” and is “not called” is irrelevant. According to the laws of the game this is a foul, in the penalty area by the defending team. Penalty kick.

Agreed. It’s getting way worst on set pieces refs need to start calling something or it will only go on forever.

the exact same penalty was called in the Euros by the English referee Howard Webb in a game that decided one team going into the knockouts and one team going home (i think it was Turkey, but I’m not sure). FIFA and UEFA both certified that the call was correct.

the main issue was that Mark Geiger didnt call ANYTHING ELSE during the entire game and that confused everyone.

Ditto on the above.

Why anyone would think this incident was controversial is beyod me.

I fall asleep at night wondering who really IS the worst ref in MLS……Geiger or Okulaja? Geiger or Okuja?Geiger or….oops, forgot Alex Prus!

I assume lots of the folks above are new to the professional game. This was not a PK because it’s man’s game in the box and there are no pk’s. Now, youth soccer yes not not pro football. BTW, I don’t see anything in the pictures to decide anything any way.

rex: “this was not a pk because it’s a mans game in the box and there are no pk’s” just might be the single most idiotic statement in the history of 3rddegree.
You’re the one with no knowledge of the game.

whoo for penalty kicks!

p.s
rex is an idiot

I’d like to point out for the record that the so-called “rex” above is not me. That so-called “rex” is an idiot.

I may also be an idiot, but I at least know that that was clearly a penalty, and (for once) a very good call by Mark Geiger. Pity about the rest of the game though…

Referee quality is the biggest issue in MLS right now. League ownership is a close second.

Unfortunate that we’ll never hear directly from Geiger to get a clear explanation of his call. Had to resist the urge to throw something through my television, however, when listening to the team of dopes on FSC (ok, so what else is new) blather on about how Geiger simply made a mistake and that the “handball” shouldn’t have been called because it was Serioux’s hand that hit it - without ever noting the fact that Serioux had clearly been arm-tackled in the box, and that just maybe that was the reason for the call.

I think we need to point out that the call made was NOT for a handball. I was at the game and thought I saw a hand come up. When the whistle blew I looked at the referee and he made a motion to suggest that someone was being tugged down and THAT is what he called - you can see in the pictures that Serioux’s dance partner in the box is getting a bit overagressive - thus the penalty call.

I am very surprised that no one complained about how cooper got triped by the goalie in the first half and the goalie didnt even touch the ball i know that is what he meant to do but i was always under the impression that, that was a foul but whatever

I also think the foul got called because it was on a player who was actually close enough to where the service arrived to have done something useful if not for the foul. The handball theory would tend to back this up. Geiger probably lets it go if the ball is three feet farther away in any direction.

Why do they let teams where the same color shorts? When trying to see only glimpses in real time, it would seem like differing kit colors would be required.

I’m not saying you can’t tell from the photos, but stop action vs live action is much different.

The biggest problem was the inconsistency in the calls. Geiger mistakenly didn’t give Freeman a 2nd yellow for his horrendous tackle on Wagner late in the 2nd half. Its possible the PK, while definitely deserved for the mugging on Serioux, was a makeup call for not giving the red.

For the person who did not think this was a penalty. then I guess Altidore’sgrab last night in the US game should not have been a penalty either.

Lets face it…Geiger called the handball, not the hold…which is more of a brace than a hold - he’s not pulling the shirt etc…

I thought is was a terrible call, but mainly because it wasn’t consistent with his officiating the rest of the game. If a plate umpire changed his strikezone in the bottom of the 9th inning I think it would upset people too….

Hmmm…my comment didn’t say what i meant it to say…

he called the handball, but decided afterwards it was the questionable hold to get out of jail.

Yeah! The shorts were the same color and the TFC gray when lit at a favorable angle didn’t appear that much darker than FCD’s solid white back. Way to go - who cares? everybody wear boot camp gray T-shirts and call it good. Style by adidas.